All posts tagged government shutdown

“The Quietest Show on Earth,” a concert given by multi-instrumentalist musician Andrew Bird in the midst of the government shutdown on a piece of land that will shortly be annexed into California’s Joshua Tree National Park, proved to be anything but quiet.

Along with guitarist Tift Merritt, Bird performed an entirely acoustic set including “Give It Away,” a re-imagined track from Bird’s sixth solo studio album. The performance required a two-mile hike, five contest winners and their guests, courtesy of General Mills brand Nature Valley, and Bird donning a voluminous blue bandana, which the violinist put over his mouth during the hike in the hopes of preserving his voice.

“The desert is not kind to your voice” Bird told the Journal prior to the performance. His solution was eating a lot of juice-laden fruits and “hoping for the best.”

Bird, whose well-received 2009 album “Noble Beast” premiered at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and whose most recent album, “Hands of Glory,” holds the number 52 spot, agreed to partner with Nature Valley “because music sounds good in the desert and touring is sedentary,” the musician said.

A five-song portion of the concert is set to be released online later this month to attract people to the National Parks Conservation Association, which preserves and protects the U.S. National Parks.

On last night’s “Saturday Night Live,” host and musical guest Miley Cyrus helped the show send up the government shutdown in Washington with a parody of her hit music video “We Can’t Stop,” pointedly retitled “We Did Stop (The Government).”

The SNL bit laid the blame for the government shutdown squarely at the feet of the Republicans. The video showed SNL player Taran Killam dressed as Republican House Speaker John Boehner, and Cyrus as Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, partying hard, and symbolically having their way with Uncle Sam, while Barack Obama (played by Jay Pharoah) looked on uninvolved and forlorn, locked outside this very unpatriotic house party.

Given that much of the shutdown is about public relations, one has to wonder if even a silly thing like an “SNL” parody might have some real-world effect, if Republican lawmaker gets the sense that mainstream outlets are singling them out for ridicule. In a “Weekend Update” piece on the show, Boenher and the G.O.P. were both labelled “loser.” (So was the Affordable Care Act website–only because of reports of glitches due to too much demand for Obamacare.)

Singer and actress Jennifer Hudson is a fan of Obamacare and the TV show “Scandal“–so she shot a humorous video for the website “Funny or Die” that’s a mash-up of both.

At a screening last night in New York City of her new drama “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete,” Hudson told Speakeasy her aim in making the clip was to help promote awareness about Obamacare aka the Affordable Care Act.

So what does she think about the government shutdown in the wake of Republican efforts to defund Obamacare?

A major movie-theater chain wants to help workers affected by the government shutdown spend their new downtime. It’ll even throw in free popcorn.

AMC Theatres said Tuesday it would give a free small popcorn to any federal employee who comes to its theaters – even those not among the 800,000 shut out of work by the shutdown that started early the same day.

The exhibitor is prepared to pop for a while.

“The offer is good until common sense is restored in Washington D.C., or, more likely, until the shutdown ends or we run out of free popcorn,” the company said.

There’s even a bevy of titles showing that might hit close to home for the employees waiting for Democrats and Republicans to resolve the shutdown – from “Instructions Not Included” to “Prisoners.” Given the pace of the Congressional negotiations, few may be in the mood to see “Rush.” Read More »

Samuel L. Jackson is stepping up and taking responsibility for everything — except the government shutdown.

“But then again, some people might say that I’m responsible for [the government shutdown] too, I did support Obama and a huge faction blames me for that on Twitter everyday,” the actor, on location in Germany, told the Journal via phone.

“I just really think it’s a shame, all these people are fighting to keep those who have nothing from having even less. Healthcare is essential for a healthy economy. Just because [the Republican party] lost an election doesn’t mean they have to destroy our country. I know they are angry, we get it, but don’t make the whole country pay for your anger, don’t devalue our status as a nation because you are angry, it’s shameful and un-American,” Jackson said.

In a new Funny or Die short, Jackson openly takes the blame from a variety of angry parents whose children are misbehaving, from engaging in dangerous behavior to smoking to randomly developing peanut allergies, all because they watched one of Jackson’s films.

The actor did, however, trick Chris Evans’ Captain America into thinking he was in a different decade in the Marvel film of the same name, and pulled a fast one on Kerry Washington and Jamie Foxx in “Django Unchained.” Read More »

In the shadow of the government shutdown, talk show host and prankster Jimmy Kimmel dispatched camera crews to ask people on the street about the differences between the Affordable Care Act and “Obamacare.”

Even though the two names refer to the same heath care program, some of the people interviewed believed they were different plans and tended to be adamant in their support of one over the other.

Shortly before the federal government shut down in the wake of a Republican effort to delay Obamacare, Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly paid a visit to “The Daily Show” to talk politics with Jon Stewart. Oh yeah, O’Reilly was also plugging a new book. Watch the clips from the show. Read More »

With the government facing a possible shutdown as Republican lawmakers seek to defund Obamacare, and “Breaking Bad” heading for a definite shutdown after its series finale tonight, the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” managed to have some fun with both. The host was SNL alumna Tina Fey and the musical guest was Arcade Fire, and several of the sketches put the spotlight on SNL’s new class of cast members, an incredibly un-diverse bunch who didn’t seem all that funny so far–making you wonder how hard the show searched to find them. Come on SNL–it’s hard to make fun of America when your cast doesn’t look much like America. There were some funny moments on the show, however, and a couple guest appearances from Aaron Paul of “Breaking Bad.” Here are the best bits. Read More »

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.